Casinos in Chile: bidding postponed again

The SCJ announced that it postponed for another 180 days the auction of the casinos in Chile, which will resume in October 2021.

Chile.- The situation of casinos in Chile continues to be delicate and, despite starting to reopen, the conflict over municipal casinos continues to worry the sector. In this scenario, the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos (SCJ) announced that it postponed the bidding process for another 180 days.

As explained by the national gaming regulatory body, the period will begin to run from the date set by the prior postponement. Thus, instead of holding the hearing for the presentation of technical and economic offers on April 19, it will be held on October 18, 2021.

The SCJ explained that "the sanitary conditions that were in view to suspend the process last August, have not ceased, also exhibiting high instability, producing advances and setbacks between the different phases in accordance with the design of the Step by Step Plan" .

Meanwhile, the Association of Gaming Casinos (ACCJ) reacted to the announcement: “In July, when the country was experiencing the worst part of the pandemic, it decided to launch an illegal bidding process. A month later, he chose to suspend the process for 90 days. Now, that the health situation seems to be under control and that the casinos already have the necessary protocols to reopen in the communes that are at least in the Preparation phase, the authority decides to postpone the bidding again, but now for 180 days "they said .

In addition, they again criticized the agency for, according to them, maintaining a “wrong tendering model, when what corresponds is to apply the current law and advance in a process that respects the existing rules when the State of Chile invited us to invest in this sector".